10 Things You Need To Know This Morning

Asian markets were mixed in overnight trading; the Japanese
Nikkei fell 0.8 percent while the Shanghai Composite rose 0.4
percent. European markets are in the red, with Germany and France
both down 0.6 percent. In the United States, markets are opening
down slightly.

European bank stocks are rising after global banking
policymakers on the Basel Committee
unexpectedly relaxed rules on capital requirements by
expanding the type of securities banks could count toward
capital ratios to include some equities and highly-rated
mortgage-backed securities. Analysts are hoping the move could
finally spur credit growth in Europe.

Treasury yields are rising after last week's FOMC minutes
revealed that the Federal Reserve was considering halting
quantitative easing in 2013. The market action has
sparked a buzz among investors about when the Fed will take
away the "punchbowl" of stimulus, a discussion that has for a
long time been in the shadows.

America's largest banks are
nearing a $10 billion settlement with regulators in which
the banks will pay $3.5 billion to defaulted homeowners who
were wrongly evicted from their properties and provide another
$6.5 billion in mortgage modifications for underwater
homeowners. The new settlement replaces a 2011 agreement that
required banks to review loan files for evidence of mishandled
evictions.

Japanese vehicle sales fell 3.4 percent
in December from the previous year as
automakers registered their first annual sales decline in
China since 2003. A boycott of Japanese products in China
stemming from a territorial dispute over islands weighed on sales
in 2012.

Eurozone investor confidence
rose to an 18-month high in January; the index increased to
-7 from -16.8 in December. Expectations were for a smaller
increase to -14.2. Any reading below zero indicates pessimism.

Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
began shaping the debt ceiling debate when he told ABC on Sunday regarding failing to raise the
ceiling, "hopefully, we don't need to get to that point."
McConnell also said that Republicans would negotiate over
spending cuts, but that tax and revenue issues are "behind
us."